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Sea Salt and Pepper Crackers

These rich, clean-tasting crackers showcase the complexity of coarse sea salt, along with gentle heat from the black pepper. They go beautifully with the soup, simply dipped in or crumbled right on top.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon table salt in a bowl (or pulse in a food processor). Add shortening and blend into flour mixture with a pastry blender or your fingertips (or pulse in processor) until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size lumps. Drizzle evenly with 1/2 cup ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated, then test again.

Divide dough into 2 portions and flatten each into a 3-inch square.

Roll out each square on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 20- by 8-inch rectangle. Trim edges and sprinkle each sheet with teaspoon toasted pepper. Run rolling pin lightly over dough to embed pepper in pastry. Brush each sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.

Cut sheets crosswise with a small sharp knife into 1-inch-wide strips (straight or wavy). Arrange strips evenly spaced in 1 layer on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 16 to 20 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool.

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Recent Reviews

Horrible recipe, especially if you're expecting something with a firm, brittle texture -- you know, like a CRACKER. They fell apart easily and crumbled into bits, and weren't able to stand up to cheese or dip. Big waste of flour.

tgubb /

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ok--new variation
that I had NO clue
would change the
taste so much:
1/2 cup whole wheat
flour+reg unbleached
(I never use
bleached) and they
almost taste like
peppery pretzels
I kept the double
peppercorn mix and
my adjusted ratio
of shortening/flour
Who knew??
A NEW CRACKER IS BORN!

kyshel /

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pepper is not ON the
list but it is
included in the
recipe
directions--always
read the recipe
FIRST.
I didn't think 1 tsp
of pepper was enough
for me, so I used
1 tsp black and 1
tsp
specialty hot
peppercorn mix--WOW
I also used a 1/2
cup more flour and
water accordingly
after reading review
about "pastry"
texture. Also used
granular sea salt.
Mine needed about 10
more mins to be
crispy (using a very
light hand on olive
oil)
These were
sensational!!

kyshel /

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no, sara is right; the pepper is indeed missing from the ingredients.

sayra72 /

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No, Sara, you're right. The amount of pepper is missing from the ingredients list. I guess it doesn't matter, since it's just going on the edges at the end?